How many follicles did you produce during a letrozole/femara cycle?

[beansprout55]

How many follicles did you produce during a letrozole/femara cycle?

@beansprout55 oh that sounds positive doesn’t it’ wishing you the best of luck for this cycle 🤞🏻

@beansprout55 what cycle day are you on now? are they planning to trigger?

I’m not even convinced the meds worked for me if I’m honest. @VenusStarr do you know if they can see for sure if I’ve ovulated on a scan? I’m tempted to ask them to do one. I felt no bodily changes from day 1-29 (today) beyond a couple of afternoon headaches and a migraine for half a day, and I think this is was probably the progesterone. I’m now waiting for AF and wondering whether to ask them to scan me.

@thislittlebird

I'm on CD15 - I don't usually ovulate until CD20 (according to OPKs)
I have another scan scheduled for CD18 so hoping I have two follicles, I'm positive I'll have at least one that's ready - but who knows!

They aren't planning a trigger shot and this is my first cycle on letrozole 5mg.

I always get a positive OPK (clear blue digi adv) every month around the same time but I'm wondering if I even ovulate and they're wrong.

Also, they only symptom I get around ovulation is EWCM, I haven't had any side effects from letrozole.

It's going in the right direction @beansprout55 :) good news about your lining too. It depends on your specialist on the number of follicles, mine was happy with me having 3 and I know someone else at my clinic who had 4 follicles. But I think you have those 2 front runners, so it's unlikely any others will join now and if they did, they wouldn't mature, so I think you'll be OK 🤞

@thislittlebird they will be able to see you ovulated by the corpus luteum, it develops after the follicle has ruptured, but I guess they can't tell the quality of the egg / if there was an egg in the follicle. Its definitely worth asking if you're worried. Or for future cycles you could do a cd21 progesterone check (ideally done 7 days before your period), anything over 30 confirms ovulation. But a scan this time should show which ovary you ovulated from. Did you get any cramps or changes in cervical mucus? X

Right ladies, I’m heading straight into Letrozole cycle two and it probably won’t work but I guess I feel like I’m doing something. @VenusStarr yeah I decided to do just that, I booked in for a scan on Thursday and asked them to do a day 21 test this month. At least it might give me an idea if I need more progesterone before IVF starts. My progesterone is quite low usually without meds. I had a few twinges over the two weeks and one appearance of some EWCM but that was all really.

@beansprout55 one is all you need, two would also be fine! I didn’t have side effects, I just got one day with some EWCM.

@VenusStarr thank you! Can I ask you one more question, then I'll try and keep it zipped until Friday 😂

Seeing as my follicles only grew by roughly 2/3mm over 4 days, does that mean that when I have my next scan in 3 days time they are likely to have only grown a tiny bit again? Or does the growing speed up the closer to ovulation you get? Concerned that my 12mm one will only get to 14 or something if it continues at this rate. I totally forgot to ask the nurse!!

Ask away @beansprout55 I might not always know the answer though :) your follicles can grow 1-2mm a day, so potentially you could have an 17/18mm follicle by Friday. I'm not sure about the growth as ovulation gets closer, sorry. I know if you take a trigger that is supposed to encourage final maturing / growth (but I know you're not doing one this time).

That sounds like a good plan @thislittlebird :) 🤞

I saw my clinic again today. They did a scan, I dunno, but it looked like a few of the follicles on there were a bit larger already 🤨. Anyway, what do I know, I’m not a sonographer lol. Started letrozole again, going back for a scan next week to see if they’ve grown and they said they’re hoping for two, but I’ll likely end up with one again or three 🥴

They didn’t say that last bit, that’s me expecting anything but two lol

What cd are you @thislittlebird? 🤞 For next week.

I am on cd1 today, starting my meds tomorrow for my FET, very much hoping that I see no follicles at my scan next week! 🙏

@thislittlebird did they say how big your follicles were already? What CD is it for you? And how long are your cycles usually??

My last scan prior to ovulation is tomorrow (due ovulate sat/sun) - talk about cutting it fine!

So anxious about it, praying I have two big enough follicles and that's it!!! And that I ask all the appropriate questions so I don't have to rely on darling @VenusStarr again 😂😂 x

@VenusStarr oh we’re nearly in sync! I’m cycle day 2. I’m back in next Wednesday hoping for two, or one, but not three because they won’t trigger 😔. So for your FET you don’t want to see follicles? Does it make a difference or am I being dumb? Lol

@beansprout55 no, they didn’t say. It’s cd2, and my cycles are normally 28-30ish, but can vary beyond that. What cd is it for you tomorrow?

CD 18 tomorrow and final scan, usually ovulate CD19/20. Cycles are 33 days.
Is it just letrozole you're on? Nothing else? I'm on 5mg too. First cycle. x

@beansprout55 it’s 5mg letrozole, then ovitrelle trigger (if less than three follicles) and then progesterone. This is cycle two for us, I have low hopes but we’ll give it another go. Usually I ovulate day 16-18 but on this last month I triggered on day 11. I suspect it might be earlier this month since I started on cd3 last month, and cd2 this month.

🤞 For you @thislittlebird if you have 3 follicles what have they said will happen? Just no trigger? I'd still ttc with no trigger and take the risk. I had a trigger but I think I would have ovulated on my own anyway.

I'm taking estrogen, so it switches off my ovaries and I won't ovulate. Once my lining gets to 7mm+ (I'm hoping for 8mm) I can add in progesterone and then plan a transfer for 5 days later. It worked well in my mock cycle, so hoping this will be the same now it's a real one!

Good luck today @beansprout55 let us know how you get on.

10mm one now 14 something, and the 12 hasn't changed 😕

I Ovulate in 2 days. She said it's very possible I'll still ovulate and she sees some ladies who have a surge just before O and a follicle grow 4/5mm in one day! But I think she was just trying to make me feel better. They're growing so slowly. But I guess that 10mm one did grow 4mm in 3 days ??

Crying and really don't want to go back to work but I have a patient in half an hour. So hard this.
She's doing a progesterone test in a week to see if I did O.

@VenusStarr yeah I guess so, will assume they won’t trigger but I can never really see the point for three, the likelihood of three fertilising when we can’t get one where it needs to be in two years seems slim 🤨

Fingers crossed then for a good lining and progress!

What cycle day is it now @beansprout55? Isn’t 14mm ok? Still a couple of days yet, fingers crossed for them.

@thislittlebird its cycle day 18. I will peak tomorrow and ovulate on Sunday.
Just anxious that in won't grow big enough in time. No way of knowing either!

Also, it was always assumed that I ovulate on my own. I only ever went to the FS because I have premenstrual spotting that starts 4DPO and continues until AF.... Which made my progesterone 16, too low to support anything..
I assumed I would just be given progesterone but he gave me letrozole?? He seemed to think it would sort me out. But I can't find any info that suggests that? Unless I'm googling the wrong thing 😕

@beansprout55 does it need to be 16mm? I think the idea is that a stronger (if that’s the right word) ovulation will boost progesterone via the corpus luteum but I’m surprised they didn’t give you progesterone with that level. My progesterone was 10 last time I had it done, I definitely don’t seem to produce much (I don’t get spotting) and I certainly didn’t feel like I was producing more last month on the progesterone and letrozole. I’m going to get a day 21 test this month to check it.

@beansprout55 are you doing opks? You definitely have time for the follicles to grow, you're not out! It could be you ovulate slightly later than your usual. I was 6 days later than my normal (I usually ovulate early though). Try not to panic, get dtd 🤞
I don't think letrozole in itself would affect progesterone levels, but if you have strong ovulation, that could affect your progesterone production. If this cycle doesn't work out, maybe you can ask for cyclogest?

That's my thought exactly @thislittlebird!

I have done clear blue advance digi OPK's since February - I always have 2/3 days of flashing smilies (high fertility/estrogen surging) followed by peak on CD18/19 - always!!!! But I'm on CD20 and I've had a whopping 5 days of flashing smilies??

Letrozole must be the cause as this has never happened before?! Freaking out that I won't ovulate. I had a ridiculous amount of EWCM yesterday, insane amount really. But no LH surge?? Gosh I'm super anxious. I've cried most days this week. Will have to call the nurse tomorrow and tell her I didn't ovulate on Sunday as I thought I would so we can reschedule the progesterone test. What do you thinks going on girls???

False alarm! Just got my PEAK static smiley testing 3 hours later at midday. (Hoping that still counts?)

@beansprout55 so what happens now you have a positive opk? Just ttc or any more clinic visits?

I just had my scan. It’s day 8, I have one 20mm follicle and one 14.5mm but my lining is only 6.4mm (probably because it’s only day 8 😩). So I now wait to find out what the plan is, if I need another scan, or some estrogen, or a trigger and so on.